US Catholic churches see a record number of conversions: ‘It’s a real shift’

After decades of declining religious affiliation, churches in southern California have seen an increase among gen Z Alicia Martinez pulls on an oversized, chocolate-brown leather jacket – an incongruous choice for the July heat in Los Angeles. Later that day, she plans to see The Odyssey in a frigid theater. But first, there is mass. Martinez, 24, enters Our Savior Parish, the castle-like church beside her workplace, the University of Southern California. Inside, she dips her fingers in holy ...

By Lynda Lin Grigsby in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara